August 2025 Volume 7

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT

• Do you have the expertise, either in-house or from an outside firm, to prioritize those gaps and develop a workable plan to address them? • Do you have the budget to address improving those gaps in stages? • Do you have a cyber incident response plan in place so everyone in your organization can respond quickly and effectively if there’s an attack? Avoid the pitfall of believing that robust cybersecurity is too much, too technical or too advanced for your company. Attackers rely on just that mentality when they’re on the prowl for victims. Don’t make it easier for them to harm your business or your customers. Cyber Defense Is an Ongoing Investment There will always be a bigger fish. So be ready. Treating cybersecurity improvements as one-time expenses is a mistake. Just as your business evolves, so do cyber threats. That’s why it’s essential to include cybersecurity services as a recurring line item in your operational budget. Cybersecurity services are not static. Artificial intelligence, behavioral analytics, and cloud security solutions are becoming standard. Regulations and cyber liability insurance requirements are also tightening, requiring more stringent data protection measures along with proof they’re in place. All these trends should lead to the expectation that your cybersecurity budget will grow.

Ongoing cyber defense services may include: • Continuous monitoring and threat detection • Regular vulnerability assessments • Incident response planning and support • Compliance audits

If you’re reluctant to spend on IT or cybersecurity, you're not alone — especially when margins are tight and most investment typically goes into equipment, labor, or operations. But cybersecurity is no longer just a tech issue; it's a business continuity and safety issue — particularly for businesses like yours that rely on automation, precision, and supply chain coordination. Finally, investing in cybersecurity upfront is far more cost effective than responding to a breach. The cost of downtime, legal fees, reputational damage, and lost data could cripple your organization. Being proactive will pay off in the long run.

Jim Kerr is President of CRU Solutions, a leading Cleveland-based managed IT services firm he founded in 1982. CRU Solutions has been serving the team at FIA for over 10 years. www.crusolutions.com Email: jim.kerr@crusolutions.com

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